4 ms·
This not a complaint ... rather it is based on observations over the last 25+ years :) No one cares about you doing a "feature" "better or differently"! Let m
by warrenm 3y ago
This not a complaint ... rather it is based on observations over the last 25+ years :)
No one cares about you doing a "feature" "better or differently"!
Let me use a real-world example: no one cares if your hammer is "better" or "different" than all other hammers for the last uncounted millennia - they care that they can hit a nail accurately and sink it with a reasonable amount of effort
>Speed
This is NOT a problem to solve! [Practically] No One is ever recalculating their whole sheet! And even if they happen to be doing so, the %% of users for whom this is even close to mattering is vanishingly small (in 25+ years, I have met two people ever for whom this might matter - my dad was one (a true Excel Power User from the late 80s on to his retirement a few years ago ... his spreadsheets could bog-down 16-core systems with 32G RAM because of their size, reliance on network resources, and massive number of formelae present))
>Anti-fragility
...what does this even mean? "Models become fragile as they grow" ... and? Who out there is really bumping up against fragility of their underlying models?
>AI: - Do basic data transformations and data cleaning without in-depth knowledge of formulas
Explicate, please! Define "data cleaning". Define "data transformations". It is rarely a lack of "in-depth knowledge of formulas" that affect data reporting ... it is far more often a lack of in-depth knowledge of the data that leads to issues in reporting
>Better mobile / iPad experience (WIP, not released yet)
Ok - this might matter ... Excel, Number, Google Sheets, etc are far better when navigable via mouse+keyboard vs touch interface :)
...but! If you have a keyboard & mouse for your tablet, this is 100% moot :)
>The plan is to keep building until it feels much better and some people would consider switching despite their current tool being good enough :)
Aye! There's the rub!
As has been stated myriad times in the past, "'good enough' - most often - is 'good enough'".
I wish you the best in your endeavors ... but make sure you are NOT trying to merely 'augment the status quo' - build something new/different! Just like VisiCalc was groundbreaking in the late 70s because it was brand-flipping-new and different ... you need to be THAT!
This, I think, is a reason AirTable (no affiliation, just have benefitted from them a few times) has been [relatively] successful - they are different from merely "Excel in the cloud"
Google Sheets made waves by being multipli-live-editable in the cloud ... and then LibreOffice, O365, Apple Numbers, etc added the same thing
Now? The only differentiator on the Google productivity suite is 'seamless' integration with Google accounts
You need to find your Differentiator - maybe you have it, but it is sitting on the sidelines shouting to the coach, "put me in, I can play!"
Maybe you have not yet recruited that player to the team :)
fwiw ... if you would like to take this convo [quasi] offline, I would be happy to engage via email
should be in my profile - if NOT, warren [at] antipaucity [dot] com
- bami1000 3y agoAppreciate your points but I personally disagree, I definitely need speed — closing my startups month end books took days because file was too big and slow to process online, and sharing offline files between teammates became confusing. So have been watching this companies progress and excited to see the speed, and other, results.
- warrenm 3y ago>closing my startups month end books took days because file was too big and slow to process online Whahuh? Maybe what you say is correct ... but it sounds like you were trying to keep all your 'books' in a single spreadsheet for all time ... with maybe a lot of [poorly-written] formulae or macros running? ----- Also ... this is why 'real' accounting tools like Quickbooks exist - a spreadsheet is not always the 'right answer' :)